Van Von Wo Aus?

This gunmetal black irony wagon would be less remarkable in California, but I spotted it in the gentle hamlet of Dahlem on the cusp of the Grunewald. It’s no Vanagon. The flying saucer B-17 and pin-up girl motif is American as “Mom” tattoos and saddle shoes. This machine must have seen thousands of miles of open ocean. Hunched at the stern by night gazing into a fathomless obsidian void, did it muse about the bright summer days to come on a sleepy stately street in Berlin. Would they get it? Really get it?

A Risky Shot

A couple of things you might not notice in the picture: that’s a cross section of an actual handgun or replica thereof–not a decal, and those are dice crowning the lug nuts. Combine with whitewalls and a big rig step board and you’ve got a meticulous work of something.

Could it be that this van was actually deposited in the forest by the flying saucers B-17s it depicts?

And where exactly is “back”?

CORRECTION: As Allan so rightly points out, those are not flying saucers but in fact B-17 “Flying Fortresses”. This changes the scene substantially as B-17s were used by the US to bomb the hell out of German military and civilian targets during WWII. The “I’ll be back” therefore takes on a pretty sinister flavor. Moreover, notice how the van is parked diagonally on the sidewalk of a quiet street with abundant parking (while bearing firearms)? We’ve got a bogey.

Perhaps this is the van of some real life inglorious bastards–or just another goddamm viral marketing stunt.